I recently posted a recommendation for a specific backup program, but it got
me to thinking about backing up in general.

It’s a common topic here on Ask Leo! and for a good reason. Not a day
goes by that I don’t see somebody suffering for lack of a backup. Not a
day goes by that I don’t see somebody who could have avoided a serious
problem simply by having had a backup.

How Do I Create a Windows 7 Password Reset Disk, and Why Would I
Want To?

Since the day that password protection was invented, users (and the people
that help them) have been dealing with the “lost password problem.”
You know how it goes; you or someone you know can’t log in to their
account because they can’t recall their password.

Take it from me, it happens. A lot.

For a long time – at least since Windows XP and probably before
– Windows has included the ability to create a password reset disk that
you can use in cases where you’ve forgotten your Windows login
password.

There are a few prerequisites to using this tool. The most important one is
you must create the disk before you actually need it.

Why do I get script error messages in Windows 8 and not prior
versions of Windows?
The tiled browser seems to be a different version of Internet Explorer. From
what I can tell, it has reduced features and is less functional when compared
with the normal Internet Explorer.

Is the Office 2013 subscription really worth it?
When Microsoft Office included the Office 2013 subscription on Windows 8 as
something that home users could purchase, I had the same reaction. Then I did
the math.

Should I defrag the D drive on my Windows XP?
If you have a heavily used drive, make sure that it’s getting defragged
on a regular basis. If it’s not getting used that heavily, there’s
no harm in defragging it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way.

Why is Norton preventing me from installing Classic
Shell?
The problem is that some third-party download sites (not all) actually add
software to your download. It could be possible that Norton is correctly
preventing you from downloading viruses.

Should I be worried about the "open in other locations" message from
Gmail?
This is an interesting feature in Gmail. When you’re traveling,
it’s kind of fun to see where Gmail thinks you’ve been accessing it
from.

How do I get rid of this advertising popup that keeps coming
back?
If your anti-malware tools removed the malware but this browser hijack keeps
coming back, then you might be doing something to invite it back on to your
system.

I run no anti-virus software and now have viruses. What should I
do?
It’s very possible that your machine has become so infected that recovery
really isn’t a possibility. If this is the case, the only practical
solution is to wipe the slate clean and start over from scratch.

A backup is nothing more than an additional copy
of data kept in a different location than the original.

If there’s only one copy of something – say a photograph on a
mobile phone – then it’s not backed up. If that device were to fail
or be lost, then the photograph would be lost forever as well.

Computers are excellent at making copies of digital data, and backups are
one important use of that functionality.

It’s generally recommended that important data be backed up in at
least one, ideally more, separate devices or media, such as an external
hard disk. In addition it’s recommended that critical data also
be backed up in another physical location, such as a different building or by
backing it up online.

More than anything the important concept is that there never be a single
copy of important data. That’s not backed up.

I, too, was hesitant to take the plunge into Windows 8, for all the same
reasons as everyone else. (The "everything's a touch-enabled tablet" mindset of
many "Metro" apps is probably near the top.)

However, last November I was "forced"(*) to upgrade my Windows 7 laptop to
Windows 8, and I pretty much agree with your "what was all the fuss about"
opinion. I haven't bothered with Classic Shell, and instead have grown
accustomed to the tiled menu. (And I like the global "search" capabilities in
it.) I still do 99% of my work on the "old" desktop, and the few changes rarely
get in my way.

If you're good with Windows 7, then you can be just fine with
Windows 8. Mostly because, Windows 8 essentially is Windows 7.

Under the hood, Vista is Windows 6. And, ignoring the marketing hype, "Windows
7" is really Windows 6.1, and "Windows 8" is really Windows 6.2. (Just open a
command prompt window and type "ver" if you don't believe me.)

(*) The HD in my Windows 7 laptop died. After installing a new HD and
restoring my backup, Windows started throwing up the "not genuine" warning.
(The only change was the hard drive.) Apparently, the new HD was enough to
trigger Windows' WGA tests, which failed. After numerous attempts to remedy
this (it turns out that one of the critical system files, which I apparently
never use, but which WGA needs to verify things) had been corrupted some time
in the past. Being a "protected" file, I wasn't able to find a way to fix the
situation. It became clear that my options were to factory-fresh restore the
system, and reinstall all of my programs, or bite the bullet and upgrade to
Windows 8. Given that the upgrade was only $39, it was the most cost-effective
method of getting me up and running again.

I actually don't read much into the internal version number - 6, 6.1, 6.2. I
believe Microsoft has been fighting compatibility issues should they change it
to, say, 7, so instead elect to let it change at that slower rate. I certainly
don't take it as a measure of the scope of the change from one version to
another.

System Restore has come in handy numerous times for fixing client systems.
(At a minimum, to get to the point of having a non-booting system booting
again, so the rest of the problems can be fixed.) It's come in handy numerous
times to repair a corrupted registry.

On the other hand, I've also seen a perfectly good, newly-fixed system
brought to its knees by someone else carelessly using System Restore.
(Basically, they restored it to a bad state. We're considering implementing a
policy where we create a restore point after fixing such a system, and deleting
all old restore points, to prevent something like that from happening
again.)

In short: I see no problem letting the system make restore points. Just
don't restore to one unless someone who knows what he's doing says to do so.
(And don't rely on them to magically fix any problem you may have.)

Agree completely. The key words here are "don't rely". If it works,
fantastic. But be prepared (usually with a backup) for the case where it
doesn't.

-Leo

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